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Immediately logging out after a respec and relogging puts trays "back to where they were", although it will fill empty spots with temp powers. This suggestion isn't terrible... however there are temp powers that I keep in my trays. Envenomed Daggers for instance, and often Flight packs.

Don't skip Taunt! You can mitigate not having it while solo, but IMO a Tanker without Taunt should probably just be rerolled as a Scrapper. I don't like tanks that rely on aura as their means of grabbing aggro... even with Axe Cyclone in the toolbox. I don't have a Bio Tanker, but I agree that you will benefit from having almost all of the powers from the primary. Luckily, Adaptation gets no slots, and a few others don't require many slots. I would probably skip/delay Genetic Contamination. I wouldn't skip Parasitic Aura, but I might not take it until much later in the build than when it is first available. It has a long inherent recharge time and I feel that you ought to be able to Tank most of the game's content without relying on a T9 power. My /Battle Axe Tanker IIRC took: A few comments about my Axe choices. My build is a Shield/BA. Shield plays differently than Bio, but I feel like each has similar powers that offer "offense" despite being a Tanker primary. 1) Yes, %proc. I don't often include the Force Feedback +Recharge (global), but on my build I had some longish recharge powers that I felt could benefit from a little more recharge. See comment by @mcdoogss above. 2) I delayed Build Up, and also opted to not add any recharge to it for this build... I needed the slot to get some more Toxic/Psi resists. I like to have Build Up available ASAP, but for my /BA tanker I found it to be less important than on other builds. I don't think Bio would benefit that much from it either. My Tanker thinking on Build Up is basically this: I want it to put my tanker in a position to one-two-shot a Paragon Protector that has gone Moment of Glory.... this means the build has to have massive ToHit without Build Up and significant high damage fast attacks. YMMV 3) Don't skip Taunt. It's a key early piece of the Tanker toolkit that remains useful across all content. There will be enemies that won't be moved by your attacks; there will be spawns that are widely spread out and won't be within a Tanker's AoE. I 6-slot Mocking Beratement on Tankers, I feel that the set bonuses are extremely synergistic for Tankers. If you are allergic to Taunt, you can get by without dedicating any extra slots to it beyond Threat/Recharge and no one will be any wiser about your choice. Teammates will know if you aren't taunting. 4) Battle Axe is a slow-ish set for attack chains. I did not put Hasten in my build; once I had set bonuses etc. the chain smoothed itself out without Hasten. I also added a few other tricks from pool powers to fill in gaps while leveling; those tricks are still valuable to me even with the level 50 build. If you don't need more Toxic/Psi, drop the FF +Recharge piece from Pendulum and move the %Fire from Cleave into it. This frees up a slot to put more Recharge into Build Up... or wherever. Come to think of it... I may have done exactly this!

I can almost appreciate the suggestion for being a a sort of "well maybe you (player) don't really want the name you chose to use"... ultimately I think so little would come out of it that this "one simple change" would have no meaningful impact. I'm going to rewrite a couple of things I usually add to "free up my name" threads: Any specific character name could have just as much (or more!) sentimental value to someone else. Avoid a victim mentality. It is impossible to know the thoughts and feelings of another player. I well remember on the days of Live (and to a lesser extent on HC) wanting to recreate a beloved character from one server on another, and finding the name was taken. I felt a temporary pain of loss, but I realized that such a player would feel the same if migrating to the server where I was using the name. We players really can exercise some creativity. Writing only for myself, I appreciate seeing clever, well-considered names. I am confident that I have some character names on one HC shard that somebody would want... this confidence is born from playing specific characters in a rather public way, and within weeks seeing several near clones in name and sometimes costume. I've gotten direct comments from other players on my newest characters along the lines of "I'm disappointed I didn't think of that name". Personally: I have a rather small roster of characters I play. Among them are level 50s with thousands of merits accumulated... and yet despite rarely playing them now, it is extremely unlikely that I'd give up their names to a seemingly random request from another player. My first instinct, right or wrong, would be to think "I've had this character for years, why do I think this random person would be a better keeper of the name?"

I rather like this piece of advice. I can imagine a variety of circumstances for which a player might want a full team, but precious few of those hypothetical situations would require anything like a full team. If folks are looking for a challenge in sub-50 content, running with fewer players on a team strikes me as being more acceptable to most "tough guys" than choosing debuff/buff options on some random SF/TF.

I have no issues with a dual-box player in mission, behind closed doors, beyond whatever grumpiness might involve any other PUG mate. I do believe that open-world multi-boxing, such as for hunting Giant Monsters or other zone events, ought to be verbotten. Rationale follows: The multi-box player is reaping greater rewards than a solo player in the open world. The multi-box player is potentially denying solo players an opportunity to reap rewards. For example: the 60-second-long zone Giant Monster defeats. It has been my experience that multi-box Giant Monster hunters also happen to be really bad about "cleaning up" after a Giant Monster defeat... maybe because they are worried about their multi-box more than they are worried about the zone they are in? I realize it takes a little bit of effort (i.e. cross Kings Row) to clean up after a Paladin, but there is next-to-no effort required to know that the Croatoan Grim Vale event has been reset. Leagues can also be bad about Croatoa, but there are enough multi-boxers that I regularly see them leaving the Vale not reset. The GM rewards are an order of magnitude smaller than something like a Hamidon or Mothership raid, but I'd rather see open-world multi-boxing of GM and zone event fights be restricted than a daily clock be implemented on all GM rewards. I feel that the daily GM reward clocks may have been a contributing factor to why I've seen so many more dual-box GM hunters (Monstrous Aethers contribute as well, I am sure).

A couple comments about ATO and catalysts. If I am not rushing a character, I will typically have about 600 merits by the time it gets to 50. When I am rushing, it is more like 150, probably from TFs/SFs that I would have done anyway. I personally burn a new 50s merits on Boosters, but if you don't have ATO, I think there are worse things to spend Merits on. It may not make the most "economic" sense, but it is somewhat "self sufficient". Catalysts drop 1 every 24 hours for level 50s, and they are surprisingly cheap on the market. I stockpile catalysts. I end up using more for attuning crafted enhancements than Winter/ATO upgrades, but that is me being 'self-sufficient'... the Auction house is a cheap way to attune most enhancement pieces. A solo player without much time can do quite a bit of content that yields healthy merit rewards, such as the Signature Story arcs. When I find characters in a "lull between levels", and I want to solo, I'll do things like: Radio/Newspaper missions, plus the Safeguard/Mayhem PVP zones (exploration, plus PVP unlocks) Ouroboros (particularly for badges, but there are some decent merits to be had)

I am leveling up a Claws/ Scrapper right now, and while I am going to have an "expensive" build when done, right now I am facing the following question on the primary: How many attacks do I really need (for most content)? I don't min-max recharge times and attack chains, so I'm not trying to find a theoretical answer. My initial play has had these choices, all by level 8. T2 Swipe T3 Slash T4 Spin T5 Followup Leveraging the ATOs and some leftover PVP/Winters/O-Force, I didn't need many slots to make these four attacks feel like a solid attack chain from the get-go. I could tell I was playing a Scrapper really early. I picked up T8 Eviscerate at 22, and upon midlife respec intend to have T9 Shockwave at 26. The T7 Focus doesn't feel critical to my intended style of play, but I have slots for it and I was thinking of dropping it in at level 32 or 35... I have other choices for this build that demand I take more pool powers early. While I enjoyed having all those melee attacks early, I'm thinking that Slash will be dropped. Am I in left field with this? Because of other powers I am putting in the build, I think this will have Hasten (almost perma FWIW) at 32 or 35... so I am feeling that chaining attacks isn't going to be too much of an issue while Hasten is available... I should mention: I plan to slot the attacks for set bonuses (and enhancement values).

I'm going to springboard off this post... The fundamentals of damage-to-defeat critters as the basis of almost all rewards in the game (Inf, XP, drops, etc.) is why I think the current implementation of %damage (i.e. "procs") is so healthy for the game's variety. I doubt I would enjoy a game where "game balance" directly turned "controls" into equivalent rewards as for defeats. I rather like the current state of the game where I can construct control ATs to lean hard into the controls or mix it up with some %damage. How to make Controllers "feel better" for controlling? I don't really know. My Controllers are less bothered by fast-moving +Nx8 content by the opening thesis of the original post... maybe it is experience with which critters to focus on? Maybe it is the variety of controls/debuffs/buffs I typically make sure to have available? My controllers tend to get peeved when there are enemy critters that have a seeming endless amount of protection and/or resistance and also engage in "run away" AI antics. Igneous, Warwolves are common critters, but there are some EB level enemies. Basically, whenever it becomes extremely difficult for a solo controller to "stack" enough control onto some of these rather common enemies, I get a little peeved... it's not like Warwolves have some special weakness that balances their crazy behavior.

Here is another vote for "you don't need to get multiple levels in a single session". One of the nice features of the current Homecoming is that players can choose their T7/T8/T9 powers (as well as most of the Epics) earlier in a character's career. The positives manifest themselves in many ways; one of them is that it is possible to experiment with a more-or-less complete suite of powers for a character earlier than we used to be able to do on Live. Obviously we are waiting for more enhancement slots between 35 and 50, yet I like to see how those powers are working for me to get an idea of what sort of attack chains should I be using, what quality-of-life slotting should be considered, and if there are any hidden gem powers I can leverage. Writing only for myself: I find it easy to slip into a mode of thinking that I've "solved" certain power sets and ATs. That is: I am tempted to look at a power set, identify the optimal power picks and slotting choices, and "see" what the level 50 build will be and imagine how it will play. I fight this mode of thought on almost every character I build... and the levels 30-50 are key for me to get a feel for the choices I'm making. It is common that I discover something subtle about slotting choices. It is not that rare that I find some power to be of low utility and can drop it. I suppose it is possible to do a similarly deep level of testing with a level 50 build (as I have done this too!) but I find I learn more about the various choices by playing content up to 50.

I'll answer "No, it is not merely risk acceptance." Answers follow for %damage procs. Sometimes the damage component of a power is low enough that sometimes more damage (via a proc) is better than simply boosting the damage component via an enhancement. Sometimes a player (points to self) wants "off brand" damage, even if it comes via %proc. For example, there are some enemies that resist Psi a lot, so having non-Psi damage in a character that does mostly Psi can yield improvements in clear times. There are other factors that play into the decision, on top of "what can I do to improve %proc chances", but those are the two primary things I consider. Some players appear to slot %procs just because they can.

I hear you... I did a cursory glance at other power pools to see which ones had 4 of 5 powers be toggles, and I didn't see any. While looking I wanted to see which ones (if any) had 4 of 5 powers that didn't affect enemy critters, and I also didn't notice any. As I wrote, Flight pool strikes me as being odd... I take those four toggles on MMs, and almost always three of them on "fliers", without complaints... it's partially that when I am in another travel power pool I always feel like I have more variety of options, with the possible exception of Concealment.

I find myself concentrating on these, roughly in order: Characters I am leveling Characters I am "finishing" (accolades, certain temp powers, sometime incarnates) Characters I am "accumulating" with (AH, merits) When I have to pick from my roster teaming, I prefer to use a character that has some "hybrid" characteristics, like control/damage or buff/debuff. If it is more of a low/no AoE character I try to go with damage/survivability.

On Blue I like to run the Tina and Marie missions in PI. On Red, this is the time to run the Patron arcs among others. Basically: do the stuff you need for accolades.

Wall of Force on Tankers, slotted with %damage (because Tanker Ranged Damage Scaling), is something I find fun to use. I primarily use Unrelenting as a damage buff, or when characters are being ground down by enemies. It also is a rez.

I had a similar experience at the Department of Motor Vehicles... except that the other person had outstanding warrants! I had to suggest that the state office check the driver's license information... of the state-issued license I was renewing.... before I could conclude my business.

Since Penny Yin is the weekly, I ran a few more non-Brutes through the Penny Yin TF at +0x1 Beam/EA Sentinel: 12m 20sec. Warshade: 20m 20sec. Obviously both Brute and Tankers need to be nerfed to make the Warshade feel better. /s

Imagine if the final power in the Flight pool was a toggle that made you fly faster.. oh wait... Excuse, back to the Medicine pool. TL;DR: I think it is fine. Re-read the post by @Glacier Peak above. I don't see the role of the Medicine pool to be to turn characters without healing powers into healers, I see the pool as a way to give a limited number of healing/support powers to characters that want them... plus (as mentioned in the referenced post) a pretty good %damage melee attack option. I'm not categorically opposed to making some updates to the Medicine pool, for reasons: #1 The Medicine pool occupies a peculiar, particular part of design space from my PoV... there isn't often much need for healing (+status) that can't be addressed by the use of Inspirations... or just running away and allowing Regeneration to do its thing. Since Inspirations are essentially just 'click powers', I don't know why a character who invests an actual power pick needs to have those early powers be interruptible. #2 In a lot of team play (in my experience), preemptively applying the Absorb from Spirit Ward (Sorcery pool) to someone on the team who is likely to be taking damage is probably superior to retroactively applying Aid Other to someone that has taken damage. This doesn't sit right with me.

I find the Flight pool to be something of an odd duck. I don't know what I'd want changed about it, but here are my thoughts, pretty much every time I play my characters who went deep into the Flight pool: Air Superiority: I like that this power is in the pool! Alternate melee attack with a fun animation. Hover and Fly: Not the same thing, but kind of the same thing. Obvious differences that we all know and love, I find I need both but then... Evasive Maneuvers: makes Hover and Fly "better"... but I primarily only use it for +Fly speed... and I think this is because I have run out of slots for Hover and Fly! Group Fly: Unique sort of power that I think is fine for what it is. Sidestepping Group Fly's potential effect on teammates (because henchmen/pets), 4 of the 5 powers are strictly affecting only the player picking the pool... which is a little bit of an outlier. For me... it feels like Evasive Maneuvers is the oddball. I like having the "flight control"... lack of control while using Flight is a design feature of the game I know... but it feels weird to me to have to (a) pick an extra power and (b) toggle it on and (c) have the other power(s) also toggled on to get the full effect. It's not as if there aren't other powers in pools that aren't "auto". I also don't like keeping it in my power tray! I suppose if I was going to propose a change to the Flight Pool, it would be to make Evasive Maneuvers an Auto power.

IIRC: Confront is an auto-hit in PvE, Provoke (presence pool) requires a ToHit check in PvE.

Don't forget Unrelenting in the Presence pool! The predicate picks in the Presence pool are generally not as useful IMO. I frequently take either Sorcery or Force of Will, and the rationales go something like this... If I want to have a power to free my character of mezz effects, I'll go Sorcery... I usually will pick Mystic Flight as the travel power, and Spirit Ward as a mule for the %absorb piece from Preventive Medicine. Rune of Protection becomes a mule for at least one Resistance set global piece. I have taken Arcane Bolt for flavor, or when I could drop it in as a ranged attack. Enflame isn't terrible, but a character needs a specific reason to take it because usually I can find another power that I can leverage for better overall effect. For Force of Will: I rather like Mighty Leap as a travel power, as it can be really fast for crossing zones. I almost always take Weaken Resolve on the path to Wall of Force (I like having a ranged cone at level 14!), and if I have a leftover power pick then I will pick up Unleash Potential. I have a couple of characters that Wall of Force didn't make sense to have so it got skipped. The build issue I have with Unleash Potential is that it requires slots to be really useful (if can mule pieces, but that seems like such a waster) and (IMO) the build needs some global recharge to get it to the point where a character can really count on it. Unrelenting is similar in its need for slots. I feel like I have one character that opted for Project Will over Weaken Resolve... if so it must have been a circumstance where I not only wanted a ranged attack, but I also had enough slots to put into it for some sort of enhancement set bonus. I've tried to get as much mileage out of the Experimentation pool, but I am less impressed. I really like Corrosive Vial, and Experimental Injection is a decent enough power to mule a healing piece. Adrenal Boost is another long-recharge excellent set of self-boosts, but I kinda hate that the slotting options are so limited. I think I've only picked this power for certain Tankers for which I've specifically not hit certain levels of resistance (because of powers or slotting choices) for damage types, such that clicking it is enough to cover a situation when I need it. I have really mixed feelings about Speed of Sound as a travel power. I like the Jaunt aspect, I often use it as a sort of Combat Teleport. I'm mostly meh on Super Speed as a travel power because of zone geometry... but what really gets me is that as soon as I jump while traveling with Speed of Sound, I basically lose forward momentum and become slooooow. I always feel like I have to have extra temp powers that are constantly being used to get around zones.

I don't know if @Haijinx was actually promoting the "easiest" as a preferred solution, or as simply repeating the sort of nonsensical suggestion that is often made by a handful of forum members. I certainly agree that any suggestion taking something away from another AT to "make Brutes better" is a complete non-starter. Surely we recognize that HC CoX is not a zero-sum game between Brutes and Tankers?

As a thought experiment: Would Brutes be happier if the Brute inherent was swapped with another ATs inherent, such as what the Kheldians or VEATS have?

I'd certainly use your version of Mids to see if adding a 50+5 Numina Health piece to Health improves the Regenration in a noticeable way. Slotting Health by itself helps with Regeneration, and the 2-piece Numina bonus is IIRC a regeneration increase. Otherwise... your Invuln build is doing things radically different enough that I don't have an easy answer. My own invuln build burns the green bar a little faster than I'd recommend for EXTREME content... but that is something less than 0.1% of my play time... so a little more Regeneration would help me in a way that may not help you. If more Regeneration doesn't do much, I'd look at what the Hit rolls look like for the extreme content, as Tough Hide can hold the Kismet +ToHit piece. Invuln doesn't need much in the way of ToHit bonuses, until the fight is 1-on-1. I get a (perverse?) sense of satisfaction when playing the Manticore TF and it is my Tanker who is finishing off the Paragon Protectors in Moment-of-Glory mode.

I'm a little flummoxed by the @Azarichoice (in multiple powers) to +5 only three pieces of Unbreakable Guard and then go with a 4th generic IO of Resistance. Enhancement Diversification is absolutely putting a crimp on MOAR, in these cases Resistance.... Resistance has a low threshold for ED... MOAR Resistance is only fractionally reducing incoming damage, so I see a sort of double-whammy of highly marginal returns past the ED The 4th set bonus from Unbreakable Guard is right there for the taking The Reactive Defenses Scaling resistance piece is almost certainly doing more for the build's Resistance profile than any of those 4th Resistance IOs. I have a suspicion that the Tank build could be well served by having a Numina Health 50+5 paired up with the Numina %proc instead of the Miracle +Recovery. I certainly value Endurance management more than Regeneration, but the greater HP of Tankers is where I start to pay close attention to each. I think a slot can be saved from Invincibilty, while also improving the ToHit nature of the power. My own slotting is: (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (*) Shield Wall - Defense: Level 50+5 (*) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (*) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure (Endurance/ ToHit/Defense): Level 53 (*) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up

I do believe it is possible that there are names on Homecoming that are "protected", and not by players. For example, there are names that you cannot give to henchmen/pets. There was one name I tried to get on day one of a character that I had on Live that I was rather surprised was not available, that included the word "Homecoming" in the name. It wasn't the most original name I admit, but all the variants I tried were unavailable. Since the project has the Homecoming name, I can easily believe that those names were reserved. It is of course possible I was slow, but on the server I play on I got all the other names of my favorite mains, even those I know I didn't have on all of the various "Live" servers.